Do You Have An Attitude Of Ingratitude? by ‘brother bill’
Every so often a generation comes along given so much that they become expectant that what were privileged gifts from their parents, grandparents, and God became rights. Little is required of them as life becomes the service of material good to the god of me, myself, and I.
In Jeremiah 29, the prophet told the exiles to “seek the welfare,” or flourishing (shalom), of their city. They were exiles in a strange land, yet rather than huddle and seek safety and escape, they were to build and plant, marry, have children, and make Babylon better, with whatever little influence or power they had. Today, American Christians can relate. In many ways we feel out of step with the culture, the way we are called to live as ambassadors of Christ’s kingdom. And Scripture even says we should think of ourselves as “strangers and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11; Hebrews 11:13). Yet like the people of God in Babylon, that doesn’t mean indifference or apathy about the place where God has called us to live. Can we see the shalom of a country we despise? I don’t think so.
